The Islamic State made a whopping $2.4 billion in 2015 despite losing territory by simply adjusting its business from oil to taxes and is still the richest terror group on the planet, according to a report.
The new report, by the Centre for the Analysis of Terrorism on the finances of the Islamic State, said that despite the constant airstrikes on its oil infrastructure, ISIS still has an over USD 2 billion empire and it is making up lost revenue by squeezing about 8 million people under its control through raising of taxes.
Its defeat is not imminent
The authors of the report, terrorism experts Jean-Charles Brisard and Damien Martinez, conclude that “IS’s military defeat is not imminent...as things stand, IS economic collapse remains some way off in the mid-term.”
The report says the IS made $2.4 billion in 2015. That is a $500 million drop from the centre’s revenue estimate the previous year, but the IS remains the richest terrorist organisation on the planet.
$360 million in 2014, $800 million in 2015
The IS’s extortion of the people living inside its territory in Iraq and Syria has skyrocketed from $360 million in 2014 to $800 million in 2015, according to researchers.
The theoretical value of assets under IS control (oil reserves, gas reserves, minerals, cash assets) was estimated at $2,260 billion by the end of 2015, up by 11 per cent compared to late 2014, the report released on Wednesday said.
They are managers, not just looters
“It’s really an adaptive organisation. What strikes me is the fact that they’re clearly behaving as managers, not simple looters. They really have budget requirements, and they’re compensating,” Mr. Brisard told CNN Money.
The report is a sobering take on what has been an image of the IS as a terrorist organisation in disarray. In recent months, the IS has cut fighter salaries to half and a nonstop bombing campaign has cut its oil production.
Controls some 8 million people
It has also lost 40 per cent of its territory, according to the U.S. military, but the IS still has about 8 million people under its control.
Mr. Brisard and Mr. Martinez were quoted as saying that the IS has simply adjusted its business from oil to taxes. As oil fell from 38 per cent to 25 per cent of its revenue stream last year, IS cranked up its extortion racket.
Taxes
In 2015, taxes went from supplying 12 per cent of yearly IS revenue to 33 per cent.
Those taxes include a 10 per cent income tax, up to 15 per cent business tax, road tolls, 5 per cent fees for bank cash withdrawals and up to 35 per cent taxes on pharmaceutical drugs.
There are also fees for leaving the territory, even temporarily. And there’s a special tax on non-Muslims called jizyah.
U.S. Treasury: coalition effort working
However, the U.S. Treasury Department said the coalition’s effort to disrupt the IS’s economy is working.
“We are seeing progress... since late-2015, IS’s production of oil has declined by about 30 per cent. Their ability to generate revenue has been reduced by at least that much,” the Treasury was quoted as saying.
